"Oh, some years."
"But isn't the unjust charge outlawed now?" Alice wanted to know.
"I'm afraid not, Miss. Such things are never outlawed. I daren't go t' an English port, an' that's hampered me. I have to take what berths I can get."
"Can't you disprove the mutiny charge?" asked Ruth.
"Not unless some of them involved was to confess, Miss. An' land knows where those fellers are now. They've disappeared with th' captain an' Mike Tullane. Of course if I could find either one of them, I could prove my innocence, an' then I'd be free t' go where I pleased. But I've about given that up, Miss.
"So I sort of come t' anchor in th' Sailors' Snug Harbor, an' when I heard about this movin' picture business, and th' chance it gave t' make a little money, I took it. But when it comes t' doin' some crime for it, I draws th' line. As I said, I've always lived honest, man and boy, for many years, an' that one charge is th' only one against me. I'm not goin' t' take them papers, and substitute false ones."
"But you don't exactly understand," Ruth said with a smile. "I am going to explain it to you. Mr. Pertell said I might. Now here is the story we are supposed to act out; and, mind you, it is only supposing—make believe, as we children used to say."
"Oh, it's make believe; is it?" asked Jack Jepson.
"Yes, just make-believe."
"I had a little gal once—long years ago," he said softly, "an' she used to be great on make-believe games. Is this takin' of them papers a make believe game?"